Firstly, understand one thing… I haven’t read the shoujo
genre in a while, so picking up this series was surprising even to myself.
Other than the typical reverse-harem feature in most shoujo manga it isn’t anything special
in my opinion, but what caught my interest was the feature of a hardcore otaku
protagonist and what’s more she’s a fujoshi (a girl that enjoys yaoi/BL) too!

Main Character - Kae (after losing weight)

A quick run of the storyline, Watashi ga motete dousunda (or Kiss Him, Not Me!) is
about a high school girl named Serinuma Kae. She’s your typical otaku – attending
conventions, in love with 2-D characters, and with the added interest of
shipping guys together. At the start of the manga, she’s not any sort of looker
at all, in fact she’s fat and somewhat clumsy. However, in a dramatic turn of
events where her favourite manga character dies, resulting in her going on an
impromptu diet, and TAH-DAH! Kae becomes not only thin but incredibly cute as well. And in
usual shoujo manga fashion, Kae gets her entourage of hot guys that pine for
her attention after that.

Recipe no Oujisama - by Junko

At this point, I’d like to note that the mangaka, Junko,
actually authors more yaoi/BL related manga titles than shoujo (I do read some
of her other titles), so I guess an introduction of a fujoshi character would
be something close to her heart as well. Haha~

Kae (Before losing the weight) She's so cute ><

Anyway, moving on moving on, I loved the art of the manga,
everything is proportioned properly, Kae and her suitors are well drawn and
look gorgeous. Kae looks cute in her chubby look and really really pretty in
her slim look. The spazzing over hot guys and well paced scene cuts makes the manga a smooth read. With most of the conflicts that rise being solved within the chapter
itself. You won’t see much cliffhangers here.

All is fine and dandy, but here’s where I take issue with
the manga. Is that the guys! The guys were being extremely superficial at the
start. Good art really saved the manga for me, if it weren’t for the well-drawn
pages of art I might not have stayed to read on. Initially, all of the guys
have had previous interactions with her, but all of them literally fell for
Kae’s looks first. And then immediately redeemed themselves for not judging her
for being an otaku. And then immediately going back to superficial when Kae
suddenly gains back all the weight she’s lost. And then redeeming themselves
again by suddenly discovering her inner beauty. Much wow! The insta-love is
also a running trope of shoujo for sure, but the insta-declarations of love,
and some of the situational setups… felt like something out of a BL manga.

I'll leave it to you to find out who is who~ ;)

More about the men in the manga, well, you have your
stereotypical guys, the brooding one, the goofy one, the senpai – the weird
one, the kouhai – the one that looks like a girl. Nothing particularly
interesting, they all get their chance at character development through interactions with Kae, which is nice.
And since this is shoujo, I don’t actually mind the cliché-ness of everything,
sometimes a norm in a genre is comforting. And have I mentioned the art? Haha…
yes this article is all about the fluffy art. Junko is obviously good when it
comes to drawing guys.

Oh, and there’s also an addition of a girl Nishina Shima – a
tomboy of sorts who is rich, athletic and a doujin artist, as well as a fellow
fujoshi like Kae, needless to say they become best friends of course.

The poor girl...

Story development was fairly good across the chapters until
recent chapters, where all of Kae’s suitors confess to her, and she doesn’t give a
decisive answer (like every shoujo manga out there)… And man does this
situation drag out really long. Any longer, and it would be really selfish on Kae’s
part to keep them all hanging actually. I do hope she comes to a conclusion
soon. But I guess when you're in love with 2-D... coming to terms with 3-D can be a bit challenging. (Nothing can be as bad as Watashi ni XX shinasai though…)

Cute, fluffy art~

TL;DR:

Watashi ga motete dousunda is a typical shoujo
manga with a slightly more interesting premise. The art is to read for, and if
you’re a BL fan yourself, the level of how much you’d be able to relate to this
manga will go up in spades. (Frankly, if I didn't read BL as well, it might not have been as appealing.) You’d find yourself amused with some familiar BL
tropes disguised as shoujo plot points and experience the same kind of slow
maddening frustrations you might have had while reading other shoujo manga.
Still, I think the manga is worth a try if you're looking for something light-hearted and humorous.

If you’re interested, the manga will have an anime
adaptation starting this fall season, and a drama CD, which you can listen to
here, has also been released. The seiyuus are stellar in the tracks.The first track of the drama CD follows the first chapter of the manga, while the second track is an original story. I might do a translation of the second track depending on my time, and if there's demand.

Mangaka Spirits

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Milkcananime aims to increase the exposure of Anime, Manga and Japanese Culture through blogging and illustrative works. We want to contribute to the otaku community, and increase the level of love people have for anything Japanese!